them.

The gardens surrounding the houses were arranged in the Chinese
way, with small lakes, stocked with gold fish, and in which the
beautiful lotus flower grew; crossed by bridges; large weeping
willows along the banks; and many different varieties of flowers
in prettily arranged flower beds, running along winding paths,
which wound in and out between the lakes. At the time we left for
Paris, in the month of June, 1899, the gardens were a solid mass
of flowers and foliage, and much admired by all who saw them.

As we now had no place of our own in Peking we did not know where
to go, so, while we were at Tientsin, my father telegraphed to one
of his friends to find him a house. After some little trouble one
was secured, and it turned out to be a very famous place indeed.
It was the house where Li Hung Chang signed the treaties with the
Foreign Powers after the Boxer Rising and also where he died. We
were the first people to live there since the death of Li Hung
Chang, as the Chinese people were very superstitious and were
afraid that, if they went there to live, something dreadful would
happen to them. We soon made ourselves very comfortable, and while
we lived there, none of the dreadful things happened to us that
all of our good friends told us would be visited upon us if we
dared to take this place. However, in view of our having lost our
place by fire, I am inclined to think that their fears were well
founded.

The loss sustained by having this house burned we never recovered,
as my father, being an official of the Government, it would have
been very bad form to have tried to recover this money, besides a